Nekias Duncan's 2022-23 NBA award selections: DPOY, 6MOY, MIP, more

The regular season is done!

We've reached Play-In Week, folks, which means the fun part ofthe season is finally here. That also means it's time to drop myfinal awards piece. The actual ballots are in; might as well dropmy fake one.

Much like the first and second edition, I'm going tofollow the ballot rules as closely as possible — top-five in MVP,top-three for Rookie of the Year, so on and so forth. For the teamawards, players have to be voted in at the positions they play themost, which really makes picking the All-NBA and All-Defensiveteams tougher than it has to be. In a perfect world, both teamswould be positionless; at least the All-NBA teams will bepositionless starting next season.

That isn't the world we live in — at least not yet — so thosewon't be the rules I follow.

For those who aren't familiar with my award thought process, thenumber of games played matters to me. I generally set the bar at60% of games played for me to even give you thought; in a league astalented as this one, there has to be a way to limit the pool.That's an easy one for me, and I understand if you disagree withit. For the purposes of this article, that means a 49-game minimumto even qualify. (So, a quick apology to Kevin Durant and BrandonIngram before we get started.)

Also, you can insert the obligatory "I don't hate your favoriteplayer/team, I am simply higher on the player/team that I listed"message here.

For my thoughts on MVP, you can read themhere.

Let's have some more fun.

Defensive Player of theYear

Previous order (through Mar. 1):

Jaren Jackson Jr.Brook LopezEvan Mobley

Jaren Jackson Jr., Memphis Grizzlies

This was incredibly tough.

Not because of the merit of Jaren Jackson Jr.'s play. The NBA'spreeminent shot-swatter. Ground coverage personified. If"Everything Everywhere All At Once" was a 6-foot-11 cheat codetasked with erasing mistakes – or preventing them fromhappening.

His improved strength allowed him to bang with brutes a littleeasier, and, again, his timing as a shot-blocker or shot-contesterwas absurd all year long.

Leading the NBA in blocks per game (3.0) and only finishing fourshy of Brook Lopez for total blocks (193 to 189) despite playing 15fewer games is wild stuff. Among 51 players to challenge at leastfour shots at the rim per game, Jackson didn't just lead theNBA in field goal percentage allowed (46.9) – he lapped the fieldby over three percentage points.

He also remained a viable switch defender. Enemies generated0.78 PPP when attempting a shot against Jackson in isolation, perSecond Spectrum. Put another way, the Grizzlies' big wasessentially OG Anunoby (0.76 PPP) in center form.

Absurd stuff.

What made this tough were the drawbacks to his case, namely howoften we saw him. Both Lopez and (especially) Evan Mobley lappedJackson in total minutes. His actual minutes-per-game load feltunderwhelming due to the foul trouble he found himselfin.

One thing I considered – something that honestly almost made memove him down the list – was which side of the aisle I should fallon in regards to his context. He had Dillion Brooks ahead of him,an #antics-filled wing worthy of All-Defense consideration. But hedidn't have a stable of screen navigators like Lopez has in JrueHoliday and Jevon Carter, nor did he have interior help to thelevel of Giannis Antetokounmpo or Mobley's running mate JarrettAllen.

Add in the injuries to Steven Adams and Brandon Clarke, it'sfair to argue Jackson has a worse context and heightened level ofresponsibility compared to the guys I have below him on the list.It makes his on-court impact pop even more.

On the flip side, Jackson's foul issues feel that much moreharmful because of the lack of depth behind him. You're inherentlyhurting your team – season-wide, the Grizzlies' defense fellroughly five points with Jackson on the bench, per Cleaning TheGlass – but in light of the absences, so much had to shift withouthim on the court.

Do you praise him for the higher degree of difficulty? Do youpunish him when put himself on the bench with silly fouls?

I found myself more impressed with the responsibility than I wasdisappointed by the foul trouble. You're more than welcome todisagree with that.

He was the primary driver behind the Grizzlies turning into anelite defense when he made his return. To that point: the Grizzlieshad a 108.3 defensive rating in his minutes, on par with the Buckswith Lopez (108.0) and better than the Cavs with Mobley(111.0).

His versatility and, similar to my MVP argument for Joel Embiid,overall responsibility on that end gave him the edge for me overLopez.

Next Up: Brook Lopez, Evan Mobley

Lopez deserves a hat tip for putting together his best defensivecampaign this late into his career, and fresh off a back injury. Ifwe were to factor in last season – and I don't think we should –he'd probably have an even stronger case. The Bucks had to alterwhat they did defensively to make things work without him; hisreturn directly coincided with them returning to elite territorywhile also tweaking things to limit threes.

On that front, Lopez's spatial awareness and sense of timingwere wildly important. With less help being shown, he really had tonail his responsibility as part of Milwaukee's drop scheme. He didit over and over and over again. He contested more shots than anyone whileleading the NBA in total blocks (193) and finishing third in blocksper game (2.5).

I won't go super deep on Mobley since I recently wrote about his growth, butwatching him firmly become Cleveland's best overall defender – andthe linchpin of their top-ranked defense – was a joy to watch. Hehas Lopez-like instincts in the drop, is more than willing toswitch out onto the perimeter and bother smaller players, andoffers similar weak-side value to Jackson when paired with anotherbig.

He's absolutely winning one of these within the next two yearsif he stays healthy.

On My Mind: Draymond Green, Nic Claxton, BamAdebayo, Alex Caruso

Rookie of theYear

Previous order (through Mar. 1):

Paolo BancheroJalen WilliamsBennedict Mathurin

Paolo Banchero, Orlando Magic

"His efficiency has dropped quite a bit since mid-December (18.4points on 50.5% TS), but it isn't enough to put a real dent in hislead."

That's how I ended the last edition when discussing PaoloBanchero's top spot. Jalen Williams clearly took that personally,actually managing to put a dent in Banchero's case.

I still landed on the Magic forward, whose versatile offensiveskill set popped for me all year long. He lived at the line in away few rookies in NBA history have. The mid-post comfort, both asa scorer and passer, has me confident that the Magic landed abonafide star in the draft.

It also helps that Banchero regained form across his final 17games of the season, averaging 20.3 points on 53.4% True Shooting,7.8 rebounds and 4.2 assists (3.1 turnovers).

I've always felt the offensive responsibility argument betweenBanchero and Williams was closer than given credit for; it's notlike Franz Wagner doesn't exist, and both rookies ranked third ontheir respective teams in time of possession and frontcourttouches.

There was still a gap though. Banchero was the battering ram.The pressure point. He gets the nod.

Next Up: Jalen Williams, Walker Kessler

Williams deserves the hat tip for making this a conversation.From March 1 onward, he barely trailed Banchero in scoring (18.7)while being much more efficient (64.3% True Shooting), a testamentto his ferocious drives, budding jumper (still a work in progress)and timely cutting. His rim pressure, both in the open floor andhalf-court, shifted defenses in a way that unlocked his passingability.

Add in the defense and it's hard not to like Williams now, andlove what he could become moving forward.

Walker Kessler slots in as the new number three, with a strongargument as the most impactful rookie in the class.

It's difficult to defend in the NBA. It's very difficult forbigs to defend in the NBA.It'sextremelydifficult for rookies to defendin the NBA. It's darn-near impossible for rookie bigs to defend inthe NBA.

That Kessler was able to establish himself as one of the bestrim protectors in the league this quickly is insanity. He landsthird because of the lack of offensive responsibility, though it'sworth noting he did pretty darn well in his screen-and-roll job.Quality, quality campaign for him.

On My Mind: Jaden Ivey

Sixth Man of theYear

Previous order (through Mar. 1):

Malcolm BrogdonImmanuel QuickleyNorman Powell

Immanuel Quickley, New York Knicks

A not-so-fun question that popped up for me as I thought throughthis award: how do I reckon with Immanuel Quickley playing in 14more games than Malcolm Brogdon (81 to 67), but Brogdon loggingmore games off the bench (all 67) than Quickley (60)did?

That took me to another question: how exactly should I approachthe starts from Quickley? Thanks to filtering, I can look at whathe and Brogdon averaged solely in their bench games. There's alsothe case to be made that part of being a sixth man is being able tofill gaps when someone ahead of you goes down.

I was then reminded of what I wrote about Bobby Portis in mysecond awards piece, citing missed time and, crucially, his "reliefstarts" as a partial reason for moving him down to fourth in myballot. For what it's worth, the missed time mattered more, buttransparency and consistency is important.

That helped me reaffirm my decision to stick to the benchaverages and make my argument from there. And ultimately, Inarrowly landed on Quickley.

The defense really,reallypopped for me in away it didn't for Brogdon. Quickley legitimately turned himselfinto one of the best point-of-attack defenders in the sport whilealso providing (underrated) value as a rebounder.

Quickley grew as a decision-maker, particularly when operatingin ball-screens. He didn't knock down pull-ups at the same clip aslast season (35.1% to 34.5%), but he improved insidethe arc. The rim finishing got better. The floater was otherwordly;among 31 players to attempt at least 100 floaters this season,Quickley ranked fifth in field goal percentage (52.1%, up from46.0% last year), per Second Spectrum.

Possessions featuring a Quickley drive were barely – and I meanbarely – more fruitful (1.066 PPP) than Brogdon's (1.065 PPP), justto give you an idea of how close things were.

His two-way impact helped the New York Knicks outscore opponentsby over six points per 100 possessionswhen he was on the floor this season. The Boston Celtics won the Brogdon minutes, but notto the same degree that the Knicks won the Quickley minutes.

(The Celtics were technically better without Brogdon on thefloor, but that note speaks to those minutes often featuring JaysonTatum andJaylen Brown. It's not fair to punishBrogdon for the starters being better;they'resupposedto be. It's more valuable tocompare what these teams did with Brogdon and Quickley onthe floor.)

Next Up: Malcolm Brogdon, Bobby Portis

Brogdon narrowly misses out here but, similar to Most Improved,I wouldn't be surprised or dismayed if he winds up winning thisthing.

He shot the leather off the ball all season long, logging acareer high in three-point percentage (44.4% on 4.4 attempts). Theshooting, both in accuracy and in career-high three-point rate(percentage of shots from three), were the drivers behind hiscareer-best 61.5% True Shooting mark.

Of course, Brogdon also provided value as a driver, and hissturdiness defensively helped unlock some lineup versatility fromBoston that should bode well in the postseason.

Portis led all qualified bench players in rebounding (9.1) andranked ninth in scoring (12.6), making him the only player tofinish in the top 10 of both categories. He shot much better fromthree as a starter (42.5%) than he did as a reserve (34.1%), thoughsome of that boils down to timing and knocking off injury rust. Ienjoyed watching him punk dudes on the block this year; the defensewas... well, we don't have to talk about it right now.

On My Mind:Norm Powell, Malik Monk

Most ImprovedPlayer

Previous order (through Mar. 1):

Lauri MarkkanenShai Gilgeous-AlexanderNic Claxton

Lauri Markkanen, Utah Jazz

It kinda stinks that the Jazz fell out of the play-in race.Lauri Markkanen missing some time to close out the year took alittle steam out of his season. But it's hard to overlook the leaphe made when available, which is why he gets my fake vote.

Markkanen exploded for the best scoring season of his career —25.6 points on 64.0% TS. A late-season dip knocked him off ahistoric pace, nearly becoming the ninth player in NBA history toaverage at least 25 points with a True Shooting above 65%. Theothers: Stephen Curry (4x), Charles Barkley (3x), Kevin Durant(2x), Nikola Jokic, Damian Lillard (this year), Amar'e Stoudemire,Kevin McHale and Adrian Dantley.

This isn't just a volume ordeal, or we would've seen similarproduction in his second season.

2018-19: 18.7 points, 47.9% from two on 8.9 attempts, 36.1%from three on 6.4 attempts2022-23: 25.6 points, 58.5% from two on 9.2 attempts, 39.1%from three on 7.7 attempts

I can't wait to see how he builds off this season.

Next Up: Shai-Gilgeous-Alexander, MikalBridges

It honestly wouldn't shock me if SGA ends up winning this thing,especially in light of how the Jazz and Thunder finished theirseasons.

Gilgeous-Alexander has obvious merit. He improved his scoringaverage by nearly seven points from last season (24.5 to 31.4)despite only averaging 1.5 more shot attempts (18.8 to 20.3). He'svirtually unstoppable inside the arc; between his unique drivingstyle and increasingly smooth mid-rangejumper (42.1% on 3.6 attempts), defenders don't know what to dowith him. The answer has mostly been fouling; SGA's10.9-free-throw-attempts average ranked third in the NBA thisyear.

How about the growth Bridges showcased as a creator? Thisstarted in Phoenix, whose injury woes with Devin Booker (and ChrisPaul, and Cam Johnson, and, and, and...) placed more of thecreation burden onto Bridges' plate. He mostly responded, runningmore ball-screens than ever, isolating more than ever anddisplaying more comfort getting downhill.

He was given the keys completely after being traded to theBrooklyn Nets, and boy did he respond. Across 26 games – we're notcounting the four seconds he played to continue his games playedstreak – Bridges slapped up 27.2 points on 60.7% TS. Impressive forsomeone becoming The Guy on a whim.

On My Mind:Nic Claxton

Claxton transforming himself from lob threat and interestingswitch-piece to an elite play-finisher and (fringe) DefensivePlayer of the Year candidate has been such a fun developmentalstory. I was most impressed by his growth as an intermediatescorer; he converted an absurd 51.1% (!!!) of his shots between3-to-10 feet, a massive bump from last year (34.7%).

Defensively, he did the loud stuff and did it well. Only Jackson(3.0) averaged more blocks than Claxton (2.5) did this season. Noplayer in the NBA has defended more isolations than Claxton (323),with opponents only mustering 0.861 PPP on trips featuring aclear-out against him, per Second Spectrum.